"THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT" ANNIVERSARY: It'll go down in the film annals, and in the internet annals, in annals everywhere, as a little movie that made an enormous impact. "The Blair Witch Project" debuted not at the dawn of the interneting of America, but at the right time -- 1999 -- to seize the imagination of people still new-ish to the web and its persuasive wiles. You remember the "is it real or not?" web site. The journals and such. Creepy. Prickles on the back of the neck.
American Cinematheque is celebrating the scarefest with a 10th anniversary to-do on Thursday, August 20th at 7:30PM. The flick will screen and star Heather Donahue will be in the house -- she of the iconic, cry-y, knit-cap close-up -- as well as the directors and other "Project" people who put Burkittsville, Maryland on the map. And shaky-cam "reality" movies on the map. And quiet horror on the map. It was a very big map indeed.
Just don't think of those little stick figures near the tent. Trying hard not to picture them. Clear mind, clear mind. Failing...
MORE MOVIE PICKS:
"A SEA CHANGE": The Downtown Film Festival hasn't quite wrapped, which is good. "Good" meaning there's still time to catch films like this documentary looking at ocean acidification (one troubling question it asks: what if all the fish went away?). The film, which heads for Discovery Planet Green Cable Network in a few weeks, examines the issue and what we can do. We like solutions. "A Sea Change" is rolling at the AT&T Center at 7:30 on August 20th
"PONCHO SANCHEZ AT MONTREUX": Also part of the Downtown Film Festival, but screening at the GRAMMY Museum at 7:30PM on Thursday, August 20th. The Latin jazz star himself will be playing the nearby Conga Room the same night. We do like the movie-music pairing. See the star on screen, now move to his conga mastery live...
